Master of Arts in Dance and Movement Therapy Counseling

Program

Established in 1974, the two-year master’s program in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling educates students for creative, responsive and effective therapy practice. This unique program addresses both the art and science of dance/movement therapy. The graduate work develops students’ personal, creative, cognitive, and movement resources so they can effectively engage in therapeutic movement relationships that facilitate access to these resources in their clients.

Dance/movement therapy is defined as the psychotherapeutic use of movement in a process that furthers the emotional, cognitive, social, and physical integration of the individual. The profession is positioned to meet an increasing interest in mind-body approaches to mental and physical health that have emerged in health profession circles and in the general public.

Upon graduation, students go on to work in schools, early intervention programs, community mental health, inpatient psychiatric, medical, social service, and wellness settings. Students also pioneer new frontiers in therapy application.

The Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling program's 90-quarter-credit curriculum is designed to meet the Pennsylvania Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) educational requirements. Most states, including PA, also require a course in career counseling, and we offer that as an elective. Be advised, however, that licensure requirements vary widely from state to state, and may change at any time. Therefore, if you are or will be interested in counseling licensure in the future, you are strongly advised to access and check the requirements for any state(s) in which you plan to work and practice. It is the students' responsibility to know and understand the requirements for any type of future licensure.

What you'll learn

The Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling program integrates dance and movement into a whole-person approach to mental health.

Students learn to apply the Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) to the evaluation of individual and group functioning and to the design of therapy interventions. The program also recognizes the importance of the therapist's function on a treatment team and fosters students' abilities to communicate valuable knowledge that may not be available to the team through strictly verbal treatment approaches.

Key program components include:

Collaborative education in a small dance/movement therapy student cohort.

An educational environment vitalized by faculty member involvement in clinical practice, scholarship, and professional service.

Supervised dance/movement therapy clinical education experiences in three different settings, with both children and adults, beginning in the first term of study.

Ongoing integration of theory and practice in classroom and clinical education settings.

Preparation to serve multiculturally diverse populations.

Introduction to recent developments in neuroscience as relevant to the mind-body discipline of dance/movement therapy.

Dance/movement therapy research and capstone project guided by a multidisciplinary advisory committee.

What makes the Drexel Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling program unique?

Learning enrichment derived from interaction with students and faculty from other creative arts therapy disciplines.

Admission Requirements

Background checks:

As a student of the College of Nursing and Health Professions you will be required to satisfactorily complete a criminal background check, child and elder abuse checks, drug test, immunizations, physical exams, health history, and/or other types of screening before being permitted to begin clinical training.

You will not need to submit documentation of these requirements as part of your application to the master’s program. Failure to fully satisfy these requirements as directed upon enrollment may prevent assignment to a clinical site for training. A background check that reflects a conviction of a felony or misdemeanor may affect your ability to be placed in certain facilities, and later, to become board certified and licensed.

Deadline:

We accept and review applications on a rolling basis through June 1st for entry the following Fall. We encourage you to apply as early as possible, as the incoming class often reaches capacity before June 1st.

Degree:Baccalaureate degree and a sound background in dance/movement. Although no particular undergraduate major is required, applicants should have taken courses in areas such as psychology, sociology, human development, or anthropology. Dance/movement experience may be part of undergraduate degree or may be acquired in studio work. Must have a GPA of 3.0 or above on all previous coursework or last 60 credits completed.

StandardizedTests:N/A

Transcripts:

Official transcripts must be sent directly to Drexel from all the colleges/universities that you have attended. Transcripts must be submitted in a sealed envelope with the college/university seal over the flap. Please note that transcripts are required regardless of number of credits taken or if the credits were transferred to another school. An admission decision may be delayed if you do not send transcripts from all colleges/universities attended.

Transcripts must show course-by-course grades and degree conferrals. If your school does not notate degree conferrals on the official transcripts, you must provide copies of any graduate or degree certificates.

If your school issues only one transcript for life, you are required to have a course-by-course evaluation completed by an approved transcript evaluation agency

References:Three letters of recommendation required, preferably addressing your work in human services, community, or mental health. Recommendation letters must include address, phone number, and signature of recommender. The envelope must be submitted unopened.

If a recommender prefers to submit an original, hard copy letter, please remind them that it must include an ink signature and be submitted in a sealed envelope.

Personal Statement/ Essay:This one- to three-page typed essay, considered an autobiography, is intended to serve as a writing sample as well as telling us more about you.

Interview/Portfolio:

Audition: The movement audition involves a group improvisational experience. We are primarily interested in how you communicate, expressive yourself and interact through movement. Applicants need not prepare anything. Those living overseas may submit videotape or DVD in lieu of movement audition. International candidates should request instructions about these requirements with admission materials and are advised to begin admission process early.
Interview: Faculty will conduct in-depth in-person interview with applicant consisting of review of personal, academic, interpersonal, and creative aptitudes. For international applicants, telephone interview or video chat may be substituted for in-person interview.

CV/Resume:Required.

Clinical/Work/Volunteer Experience:A social service work or volunteer history and cross cultural experience is highly valued.

Transcript Evaluation: All international students applying to a graduate program must have their transcripts evaluated by the approved agency: World Education Services (WES), 212.966.6311, Bowling Green Station, P.O. Box 5087, New York, NY 10274-5087, Web site: www.wes.org/.

TOEFL: Applicants who have not received a degree in the United States are required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). An official score report must be sent directly from the Educational Testing Service. For more information visit the Web site: www.ets.org, then click on TOEFL.

Curriculum

Research

All dance/movement therapy students conduct original research culminating in the writing of a master’s thesis. Each student is guided by a multidisciplinary advisory committee chaired by a dance/movement therapy program faculty member and two additional advisors who have interest or expertise in the student’s research topic or research methodology. Completed theses are bound and become a permanent part of the dance/movement therapy literature in the Drexel University library. A highlight of the academic year is a Spring Research Colloquium in which student’s present completed or in-progress research to the academic and professional dance/movement therapy community, family, and friends.

Accreditation

The Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling program is approved by the American Dance Therapy Association.

Clinical Practice

Students engage in dance/movement therapy clinical education in three different settings during the course of their two years of study. In both years individual clinical supervision is supplemented by small group mental health and dance/movement therapy supervision in the academic setting, a reflection of the program’s commitment to clinical supervision as a learning tool.

In the first year students are placed in two practicum experiences, one with children or adolescents and the other with adults. The student has the opportunity to observe and practice beginning therapy skills with the role modeling and support of an on-site dance/movement therapist.

Students are actively involved in the selection of their second year internship sites with respect to their individual learning needs and interests. The second year internship offers an opportunity for students to mature and specialize as clinical interns over the course of a full academic year. The student functions as an integral member of an on-site treatment team. Students participate in individual supervision with a dance/movement therapist holding the advanced credential of BC-DMT (Board Certified Dance Movement Therapist).